New Bride, 22, Underwent ‘Fairly Routine’ Surgery After Wedding, Then She Was Left Fighting for Her Life with Serious Complications
New Bride, 22, Underwent ‘Fairly Routine’ Surgery After Wedding, Then She Was Left Fighting for Her Life with Serious Complications
Erin ClackWed, November 11, 2026 at 1:25 PM UTC
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Natasha Barbotiko in the hospitalCredit: GoFundMe -
A newlywed Montana woman, Natasha Barbotiko, underwent a “fairly routine” open-heart surgery just months after her wedding to address a congenital heart defect
Now, her family claims she was left fighting for her life after experiencing serious complications during the procedure
“Never in a million years did we see all these other things happening,” Barbotiko’s mother-in-law said of the surgery complications
A newlywed woman underwent a “fairly routine” surgery two months after her wedding — and now, her family claims she was left fighting for her life after serious complications occurred during the procedure.
Natasha Barbotiko, from Billings, Mont., married her husband, Domanic Slayton, in August, according to local outlet KTVQ and a GoFundMe set up to help cover her medical expenses. Two months later, on Oct. 27, the 22-year-old, who was born with a heart defect that doctors had monitored since her childhood, underwent what her family described as “a fairly routine” open-heart surgery to repair her heart valve.
“Because of her young age of 22, they expected very little concerns, with a quick recovery,” Jan Hefner, the organizer of the GoFundMe, wrote on the page.
Barbotiko’s family told KTVQ that the surgery was expected to take about six hours, but instead it lasted 10 hours. The woman’s mother-in-law, Michelle Kraft, said she experienced serious complications during the operation, including difficulties restarting her heart after it had been stopped for several hours.
“With excessive bleeding and complications, surgery took longer than expected,” Hefner wrote. “It caused her heart to not want to restart. They were able to stabilize her and keep her stable overnight and much of the morning on the 28th. By the afternoon, she went into heart and lung failure that required the doctors to get her on an emergency heart and lung bypass machine to stabilize her so she could be life-flighted to Salt Lake City.”
Hefner said Barbotiko was stabilized and put on a bypass machine. “We are unsure of the next steps as they are taking it hour by hour,” she wrote.
“Never in a million years did we see all these other things happening,” Kraft told KTVQ of Barbotiko’s surgery complications.
In a Nov. 1 update on the GoFundMe page, Hefner shared that Barbotiko was set to undergo another surgery, and on Nov. 5, she wrote that the 22-year-old’s heart was “closed up now” and she was no longer intubated.
Over the following days, Hefner shared more details about Barbotiko’s recovery process, including that she was doing physical therapy and speech therapy and “getting so much closer to getting out of the ICU.”
On Nov. 9, Hefner wrote that Barbotiko was “struggling with not being able to do more.”
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“Helping her understand she had 2 open-heart surgeries in 7 days and 2 additional surgeries in those same 7 days is hard,” she added. “She understands it, but of course just wants to be better.”
Hefner also said Barbotiko is “mentally struggling” knowing she “almost died 3 times.”
The woman’s family told KTVQ they have a lot of questions about what happened during the initial operation and how the complications were handled.
“We were told what the best outcome would be for her with this, but we maybe weren’t told how many times this procedure has been done, right? Like, has it been done a million times? Has it been done 50 times?” Kraft said. “That makes a big difference in how much we know of an outcome for her. And so that for us is a big question we have.”
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When reached by PEOPLE, Intermountain Health declined to comment, citing its inability to comment on individual patient situations.
Kraft told the outlet that Barbotiko’s loved ones are focused on supporting her through her long recovery ahead.
“We love Natasha, and we’re really thankful for everybody that has already come around us and supported us financially and with prayers,” she said.
Hefner added on the GoFundMe, “We are expecting months of recovery and we are trying to keep her husband Dom by her side as long as possible.”
on People
Source: “AOL Breaking”
