BURLINGTON — With a shaved head and an easy smile, Marlo “Lou” Faralan stood in the Bellingham Sportsplex on a recent sweltering summer night, the picture of calmness in the middle of chaos.

There was a full slate of mixed martial arts fighting scheduled that night, and the crowd was raucous, pressing forward to best see the ring. Hip-hop blasted from speakers. Fighters warmed up in one part of the building, shuffling from side to side and throwing punches at invisible opponents.

In the middle of an intense environment, Faralan, the founder and chief instructor at Kalahi Martial Arts Academy in Burlington, remained placid. He greeted everyone with a smile and a handshake, and chatted with fighters and coaches.

Faralan was coaching several fighters in the competition. Whenever one of their matches began, his demeanor stayed the same.There was no screaming or shouting from his fighter’s corner.

And whether the fighters won or lost, Faralan greeted them with a grin and a necklace of beads — like one he wore around his neck — to mark their achievement.

“I wanted them to give it their best. That’s all I expect,” he said later. “It takes courage to get in there and compete.”

While the fighters had their battles, Faralan is facing one of his own. He continues to train students while undergoing treatment for leukemia.

While Faralan has cut down on his teaching schedule because of the fatigue brought on my chemotherapy, he remains dedicated to his students and the martial arts, which he sees not as a violent endeavor but one that can be used to learn discipline, patience and self respect.

“It’s not a fight club,” he said. “It’s a road to self-improvement, and so much can come out of it.”

That was a lesson Faralan learned early. A third-generation martial artist, he is the adoptive grandson of Sonny Gascon, who is considered a pioneer of Kajukenbo, which blends boxing, Jujutsu and Kenpo karate.

Faralan didn’t learn of his grandfather’s legacy until later in life — he said his grandfather was too humble to mention it — but grew up in California watching family members practice martial arts, and was soon practicing them himself.

At first, Faralan said, his motivations weren’t always pure. (“When you’re in your youth,” he said, “it’s about being cool.”) But he joined the Navy in his teens, and after a while he was teaching martial arts to other members of the military.

“I saw how it’s about being a leader,” he said. “The discipline is what stuck with me, and what I tried to pass on to the students,” he said. “I taught it with every command, and that was my passion.”

When Faralan left the Navy, he settled in Skagit County. He soon founded Kalahi, starting with a building in Mount Vernon, then moving to its current location in Burlington.

The academy offers several classes intended to cover as much of the spectrum of martial arts as one business can. There are introductory classes for kids, classes that focus on fitness and self-defense, and mixed martial arts classes for those who want to be serious competitors in the fast-growing sport.

“He’s excellent,” said student Derek Sabella, a former Stanwood High School wrestler. “Anything I need help with, I ask him. He shows you every detail of what you’re supposed to do. He shows you how the little things matter.”

In recent years, Faralan has suffered some health setbacks, including a gall bladder operation and Type 2 diabetes. So when he started feeling weak earlier this year, he didn’t think much of it, suspecting his diabetes medication had to be adjusted.

Then, after some tests, his doctor started talking about white blood cells, and Faralan began to wonder why.

It turned out Faralan had acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a disease where leukemia cells crowd out normal red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. The disease is more common in children, but can appear in adults.

While the disease can often be treated successfully, Faralan said it was an anxious time for him when he learned he had it.

“With something like this, a lot of things go through your mind,” he said. “You start thinking about death, about chemo. It’s hard.”

When he became ill, Faralan had something else to consider: What to do with the academy, which has close to 100 students and eats up much of his time and energy. With chemotherapy looming, Faralan wondered how much he’d be able to devote to the business.

After some thought, he decided to give it all he could. Financial considerations made up part of that decision, but not all of it.

“I look at the students and kids, and it affects so many lives,” he said. “I didn’t want to put a stop to it.”

So even after Faralan began chemotherapy in June, he kept showing up at the academy to teach classes.

The treatment, taken in a strict regimen of pills, was tough. There were days when he felt like he had a supercharged version of the flu; days when he found it difficult to get out of bed.

“You get peaks and valleys, and that’s just the way it is,” Faralan said. “Sometimes I’ll feel good waking up, then have no energy. Sometimes I’ll be fine one day but useless the next.”

He had to scale back at the academy, leaving some classes to more advanced students to teach. But his dedication still shone through, with one student remembering him sleeping on a cot in the back after getting tired.

“He’s extremely dedicated to the academy. He’s stubborn,” said Faralan’s daughter, Jordan. “We try to make him go home, but he always wants to be there.”

Alan Mann, a student at the academy who also teaches classes, said, “We’ve become like a family here, and he doesn’t want to let that go. His spirits stay high because of the school.”

Part of Lou Faralan’s dedication stems from his passion for the martial arts. While he teaches several styles — including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai kickboxing — something all those styles have in common, he said, is the ability to instill discipline and patience in their practitioners.

“Everything you do in martial arts relates to life,” he said.

Students say they have grown more centered and disciplined after training, and that the art is something deeper and more complex than the bloody face the sport often shows in televised mixed martial arts.

“We enjoy the culture of the martial arts community, and the art is flowing and beautiful,” Jordan Faralan said. “It’s about fluid motions and timing.”

Lou’s son, Julian, who also trains and competes, said the sport has changed him as well.

“I was anxious and obnoxious. I talked back,” he said. “But it helped me be patient and calm myself down. It disciplined me.”

Now, Lou said, he has harnessed those lessons for a new battle.

His prognosis is positive, he said, and he is using what he’s learned from a lifetime of martial arts to make it stay that way. 

“It’s all the same lesson,” he said. “When you’re facing an opponent, you don’t know what they’re made of. But you know what you’re made of.”

• Trevor Pyle can be reached at 360-416-2156 or by e-mail at .