A journalist who was contacted to write about a kidney donor appeal for a child and ended up as the donor herself, says she hopes to inspire others. Emma Palmer, 51, a features writer at the Echo in Essex, was contacted by the child's mother to write the appeal in March 2025 but ended up being a match. Maya, 16, from Hadleigh in south Essex, had the transplant on 6 January after suffering severe damage to her kidneys following an e-coli infection two years earlier. Palmer, from Laindon near Basildon, said she hoped more people could "take the first step" when donating a kidney and that nine weeks after the procedure she felt "totally normal". "One of the reasons I wanted to do this was for Maria (Maya's mother) because as a mother myself I could only imagine what she was going through," she said. "Life on dialysis is horrendous and so I wanted to help." Maria, 48, an executive assistant for a local charity, said: "I can say thank you to Emma but it will never be enough.…