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Alabama AD Bill Battle to take leave for cancer treatment

Alabama announced Tuesday that athletic director Bill Battle would take a leave of absence to seek treatment for multiple myeloma, a rare form of cancer.

Battle, 74, told the Tuscaloosa News that he is in stage one of the illness. He will begin stem-cell replacement therapy Wednesday at Emory Hospital in Atlanta.

Battle, who is an Alabama alum, said his form of cancer is “not life-threatening.”

“That doesn’t mean I will stop working,” Battle told the newspaper. “I will be in touch by e-mail every day. I will be in direct contact with our senior administrators on a daily basis, and I expect to be back in the office later this summer.