A Bridgeport family is mourning the loss of a beloved family member to rectal cancer during National Black Family Cancer Awareness Month.

Isis Wright, 35, died in the hospital on Thursday after an eight-year battle with cancer.

Wright’s mother Jeanette Watson, 72, says her daughter experienced tremendous hardship over the years.

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"The pain was so excruciating with all the needles in her back and in her stomach,” she said. “I would tell her to pray. Then she would put her church music on, and she would cry, and I would pat her as long as I could."

News 12 followed Wright’s story as she received a college education in the midst of her health issues.

Watson says the loss of her daughter has been devastating.

“As a parent, you feel as though your children should bury you,” she said. “It is very hard. She is my baby."

As she mourns, Watson says she is grateful for the support from her community.

"I'm so grateful to everybody that is listening and sending their condolences and helping us at this time of bereavement,” she said.

Watson says Wright’s rectal cancer was originally misdiagnosed as hemorrhoids. The illness gradually took the family through an emotional series of ups and downs.

“It went in remission, but it came back. When it came back, it went everyplace but her brain,” she said.

Watson says cancer runs in her family and her husband is now suffering from leukemia.

She encourages people to get routine screenings in memory of her daughter.

“As Black Americans, we must get these tests, because there is no sign of anything until it really starts to ravage your body,” she said.

Watson believes many lives can be saved by the example her daughter provided.

“Even through her struggle with cancer, she stayed positive,” she said.

The family is asking for help with funeral expenses and encourages people to make donations in memory of Wright directly to Baker-Isaac Funeral Services in Bridgeport. They also say services will take place on June 23 at Deliverance Temple at 75 Hurd Avenue.