Vina plays Joey Albert in Maalaala tonight

The struggle of one woman against her family’s legacy of cancer forms the riveting true story behind this week’s edition of Maalaala Mo Kaya. Maalaala Mo Kaya features the life of Joey Albert tonight on its new time slot at 8:30.

Vina Morales essays the role of Joey Albert. Vina will be joined by Alicia Alonzo as Joey’s mother Letty and Yayo Aguila and Angel Jacob as Joey’s sisters Anna and Marissa. This episode is directed by Mae Cruz and written by Gilbeys Sardeja.

Best known for her songs Tell Me, Million Miles Away and Ikaw Lang ang Mamahalin, Joey was one of the leading voices in pop music of OPM in the ’80s and the ’90s. The youngest child of a well-off family, Joey never even planned on becoming a singing star, because she wanted to follow in her diplomat father’s footsteps and become an ambassador. But after beginning her school life in Belgium and finishing her college education in Assumption, Joey began to discover a passion for performing, and was soon launched to stardom via her first album, Joey Albert.

But behind the seemingly effortless star exterior, Joey found herself in the middle of a personal family health crisis after her father died of colon cancer in 1982. In 1985, her sister Anna was struck with the same disease. And then, in 1995, a routine pap smear uncovered the beginning of cervical cancer in Joey herself.

Has Joey beaten back the specter of cancer that has claimed the lives of many people she loved?