Maag receives instructor status/black belt in karate

By Editor | April 13, 2022 |

Christian Maag is donning karate uniform and his black belt. Maag is the grandson of Gayle and Dan Lake and Dean Bottom of Carrollton. (Submitted photo)

By Carmen Ensinger

Christian Maag, 17-year-old grandson of Gayle and Dan Lake and Dean Bottom, all of Carrollton, was recently awarded the Martial Arts Student of the Year award from Grogan’s Academy of Martial Arts in Edwardsville. In addition to earning his first-degree black belt last year, he is now a certified instructor at the school.
Maag is a junior at Marquette Catholic High School in Alton and is the son of Robyn and Ed Maag of Jerseyville.
While grandparents are typically granted bragging rights on the grand kids, Gayle Lake said Maag had to overcome the odds to reach the pinnacle he is at today.
“Christian was born with a heart defect, but we were never really given a definite diagnosis and didn’t really know how bad it was,” Gayle Lake said. “Then, when he was three months old, we sought a second opinion because he just didn’t look good at all.”
That second opinion would be life changing for Christian and for the whole family.
Christian was diagnosed as being in heart failure and rushed to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis where he was placed in the Pediatric Children’s Intensive Care Unit where he was too critical even for the open heart surgery he needed to survive through the night.
A brave doctor at Children’s performed the life saving operation by going through Christian’s side because he was too sick for open heart surgery. Christian received two balloon caths after the initial surgery and his heart began functioning normally.
“He is nothing short of a miracle,” Lake said of him. “He went through several more heart surgeries when he was younger so for him to come this far is amazing. He is an amazing young man and we are very proud of him.”
Lake was asked how he got interested in karate.
“I think he got interested in it from watching cartoons,” she said. “I know he always loved watching SpongeBob and there was always a lot of martial arts on there and I remember seeing him trying it out from time to time.”
The real question was how Christian got his parents to agree to let him get involved in karate with his heart condition.
“I think he kind of bargained them into that,” Lake said. “When he started fifth grade, they wanted him to transfer to St. Mary’s Catholic School in Alton and he told them he would switch if they let him start martial arts. They agreed, but I don’t think they thought he would stick with it this long or go this far. But it has been great for him.”