TAMPA, Fla., (WFLA) — A heartbroken mother reached out to 8 On Your Side after she had to dig to find her daughter's headstone.

She said she has never seen the cemetery in such disrepair.

Melanie Bridwell's daughter is buried at Garden of Memories off of East Lake Avenue in Tampa.

Bridwell said she and her husband went to the cemetery on Sept. 2 to visit their daughter for her birthday, and that they both left emotional after seeing the state the headstone was in.

"I got on my hands and knees and said, I'm going to find this headstone. I got on my hands and knees, we didn't have anything to dig with, so I started digging with my bare hands, finally got to her tombstone and we cleaned it off," Bridwell said.

Bridwell lost her daughter, Angel, 39 years ago and comes to visit her daughte

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