Looking at Joey Albert now, you wouldn’t think that she’s battling the Big C again…for the third time…and, so far, winning.
As you must know by now, Joey was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1995 before her family migrated to Canada. She went into remission until the cancer came back in her ascending colon sometime in 2003. After a 12-year remission, the cancer came back in her colon that required a six-hour surgery in March last year that left only five centimeters of her colon. She finished 12 rounds of chemotherapy every other week for six months.
“First thing I did when I woke up after the surgery was check if I had a bag on my side,” recalled Joey. “Thank God, there was none. I called that a miracle. I looked out of the window from my hospital bed and I saw how beautiful the river nearby was. I thanked God again for letting me live. I also called that a miracle. I lost 25 lbs. and I regained half of it because I started eating again.
“And also, they found a cyst in my pancreas, very small naman. My doctors saw it when they did my colo-rectal CT scan. It’s still there; my doctors are monitoring it. It’s benign. Again, I call it another miracle, thank God.”
In November last year, Joey came home for a concert at a small hospital in Davao that treats only children with cancer.
“After my surgery,” said Joey, “I wanted my very first concert to be for cancer patients. Parang payback. It was my friend Nestor Solis who produced the concert for me. Sa awa ng Diyos, we were able to raise P500,000.”
Soon after, she went back to Koquitlam, British Columbia (where she and her husband Ting Pacis and their daughters Trixie, 26, and Marga, 23, are based). She missed by a few days the wedding of her nephew BJ (son of Joey’s brother and Jose Mari Chan’s sister Lily) and singer Nikki Gil. She came back Christmas Eve with her daughters to spend the holidays with her ailing mom. Two days before she left (her daughters left ahead of her), Jojo Gabinete and I had lunch with her at the Un Cuenca restaurant (which serves delicious Filipino-Spanish food) in Ayala Alabang near her mom’s place.
“I was diagnosed on Jan. 28 last year and I asked my doctor if I could come home for a Valentine concert with The CompanY at the Music Museum,” recalled Joey. “Malay mo kung ano ang kalalabasan ko after the surgery, di ba? But I kept my illness a secret; only my manager and The CompanY knew about it because I didn’t want naman the audience to be wondering, ‘Asan ang cancer niya?,’ you know.”
Joey’s cancer is called Albert’s Colon because, she said, it’s a kind of cancer (caused by genetic deficiency) that afflicts only the Alberts (several of Joey’s relatives have succumbed to it).
On the way to the restaurant’s second floor, Joey took every step carefully.
“I’m suffering from neuropathy due to the chemo,” she said. “My fingertips and my feet are almost numb.”
Poring over the menu, Joey ordered a bowl of Molo Soup and Gambas, downed by plain water (with Churros on the side, offered free by the owner, with Joey eating just one piece dipped in dark chocolate). Lumpiang Sariwa and Lechon Kawali were served but Joey didn’t touch them.
“I’m careful with what I eat kasi nga I have no more colon,” said Joey. “I avoid fats and oily food. I can’t take fiber anymore because it’s hard to digest. No more processed foods,” adding with a laugh, “goodbye meat loaf and sausages.”
On the plane, Joey has to wear mask to avoid infection.
“My immune system is weak because of the chemo,” disclosed Joey. “I can’t go to crowded places. What else do I have to do? Yes, I have to get as much sleep as I can because that’s when your cells regenerate. Cancer is a cellular disease, you know. I’ve been doing research and I learned that what causes cancer is cellular malfunction and toxicity. For exercise, I do Pilates; not too strenuous because you do it on machines.”
Asked how her family and relatives react to her illness, Joey smiled.
“It doesn’t surprise us anymore. We’ve been so used to family members having cancer,” she said very casually, “that it doesn’t alarm us anymore.”
The good thing about Joey is her positive attitude and outlook, not letting anything, not even cancer, to get in her way of living life as normally as she could.
“My illness won’t stop me from doing what I want,” insisted Joey. “I’m coming back in February to perform in Adam Lambert’s concert. And then I’m going to Dubai for another show.”
Besides medicine, according to Joey people praying for her also helps a lot.
“Especially prayer from those who are also sick,” said Joey. “When I was doing my chemo, I would ask my friends on Facebook to e-mail me their prayer intentions because I know that when the sick pray for others, God hears it. The sick turn their suffering into a prayer.”
Her favorite saint is St. Joseph (said to have been born on March 19 which also happens to be Joey’s birthday).
“I have an image of The Sleeping Joseph,” revealed Joey, “not just one, three different sizes. When you put your intention under the image, natutupad talaga. I believe that. I wrote, ‘Please, don’t make my chemo so hard.’ I went through my chemo with hardly any pain.”
The biggest miracle, added Joey, is waking up to a brand-new day.
“It’s nice to be alive. And again and again, I thank God for giving me that miracle every day.”
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