A Documentary Book Project

Humans
in Between

Life doesn't pause for the machine.

We are gathering the untold stories of the kidney community — patients, caregivers, and clinicians living with CKD and dialysis. Not the medical facts. The human ones. The moments between treatments. The lives behind the chairs.

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Father and son on a rooftop at sunset
"He taught me that life doesn't pause for the machine.
You just learn to live around it."
Personal photo — the founder with his father
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The Project

Not a medical story.
A human one.

37 million Americans live with chronic kidney disease. Over half a million receive dialysis three times a week, four hours at a time. That's twelve hours a week in a chair. The medical world has written extensively about their kidneys. Almost no one has written about their lives.

"The stories doctors don't have time to hear, and families don't know how to ask about."

Humans in Between follows the full kidney journey — from the first quiet signs of CKD, through the shift of diagnosis, into the rhythm of life on dialysis, all the way to transplant and beyond. A portrait of normal life, lived with a constraint.

37M Americans with chronic kidney disease
500k+ Currently on dialysis, three times a week
12hrs Per week, every week, in the chair
0 Books that have told this story the way it deserves
Founder and father on a bench
The conversations that started this book.
Father during dialysis treatment
Three times a week. Four hours each time. Every week.
Father at the beach, giving a thumbs up
Life doesn't stop. It just reorganizes.
Your Name — Founder, Inspired Comforts
Why This Book Exists
My father has been on dialysis for years. I've sat in that waiting room. I've watched the routine — the quiet strength it takes to show up three times a week and still come home and be a father, a grandfather, a person. I built Inspired Comforts to serve this community. I started this book because I wanted to show the world what I see.
Why This Name

What does
in between
mean?

The name isn't just about dialysis. It's about the space the kidney community occupies — in time, in identity, in the world.

1
Between treatments

Dialysis patients live in a rhythm of three-day cycles. The hours between sessions are the hours of real life — where meals are planned around restrictions, where energy is measured, where the next appointment is always in the background. This book lives in those hours.

2
Between who you were and who you are

A CKD or dialysis diagnosis changes a person's relationship with their own body, their time, their identity. Many describe living "between" the version of themselves before and after. That in-between is not a failure — it's where real life happens.

3
Between what medicine sees and what's actually there

The medical system sees labs, access points, treatment adherence. This book sees the grandfather who couldn't hold his grandson for six weeks. The woman who still makes her grandmother's recipe, adapted. The technician who knows everyone's chair. That gap — between the chart and the person — is where we work.

4
Between waiting and living

For many, dialysis is a bridge to a transplant. For others, it is the destination — a permanent rhythm built into a full life. Resilience not as triumph, but as Tuesday. Both are valid. Both are whole. This book holds space for both without hierarchy, without false hope, and without pity.

The Book

Six chapters.
One honest arc.

Organized not by medical stage, but by emotional experience — the full journey from the first quiet signs to life after transplant, including the people who make it all possible.

I
Early CKD
The Quiet Before

The anxiety before a name. Monitoring labs, hoping they'd stabilize, and living with something that doesn't look like an illness yet.

II
Diagnosis & The Shift
The Threshold

The moment "dialysis" becomes real. The shock, the grief, and the first steps into a completely new kind of normal.

III
Life on Dialysis
The 12 Hours

The in-between. Humor, boredom, community, ice chips, and the strange intimacy of a clinic that becomes a second home.

IV
Caregivers & Clinicians
The Village

Spouses, children, technicians — those who drive the cars, change the bandages, and hold everything together quietly.

V
Transplant
The Call

The moment the phone rings. The first glass of water. The daily pill regimen and the gratitude that comes hand-in-hand with vigilance.

VI
Long-term & Ongoing
Still Here

For those who never got the call — and built a full life anyway. Resilience not as triumph, but as Tuesday.

Why This Matters

You're not
invisible.
Anymore.

New patients are handed a binder of medical information. What they actually need is to see someone who looks like them — living a life they recognize, and making it through.

This book is designed to sit in clinic waiting rooms, nephrologists' offices, and the homes of families who just received a diagnosis. Not as a pamphlet. As a work of art that says: your story matters.

Every story becomes part of something permanent — a document of a community that has been treated as a statistic for far too long.

The hardest part wasn't the surgery. It was the fact that I couldn't hold my grandson for six weeks. That's the story no one tells.
— On what it means to share
Who We're Seeking

Every voice
in the room.

Patients

Whether you're newly diagnosed with CKD, a decade on dialysis, waiting for a transplant, or living post-transplant — your ordinary moments are exactly what this book is about.

Caregivers & Family

The spouses who learned to cook without potassium. The children who waited. The siblings who donated. Those who held everything together, invisibly.

Nurses, Techs & Clinicians

The clinic team that becomes a second family. Those who know everyone's chair, everyone's ice chip preference, and who needs a quieter session today.

Every story
finds a home.

Submitting your story is not an audition — it's joining a living archive. Stories will be considered for the printed book, but they'll also be published on this site, shared on social, and featured as community excerpts. If your story reaches even one person sitting in a waiting room for the first time, it has done its job. You don't need a dramatic story. You just need a true one.

Share Your Story

Tell us about
your in-between.

A few minutes of your time. A lifetime of impact for someone who finds this in a waiting room.

Not sure where to start? Tap a prompt — it'll appear in the box below.

📷

Optionally share a photo of yourself — at the clinic, at home, wherever feels like you.

JPG or PNG · Max 10MB · Completely optional
By sharing your story, you're giving us permission to publish it on this site, social media, and in the book — always credited exactly as you'd like. If you'd prefer it stay private, just check the box above. You remain in full control, and we'll always reach out before anything goes to print.
✦   Thank you. Your story matters — and it will find its home. We'll be in touch within a few days.
For the Community

Show up.
Get recognized.

All Story Contributors
Your name in the book

Every person who shares their story will be acknowledged in the final publication — a permanent record of the community that made this possible.

Early Access · Most Popular
Discounted copy + first access

Join the book waitlist now and lock in an early-access discount before retail launch. First to know, first to order — before it reaches clinics and bookstores.

Coming Soon
Community merch

Dialysis hoodies, tote bags, and limited pieces designed for and by the kidney community. A way to carry the project outside the clinic.

Stay With Us

Two ways to
follow along.

Follow stories as they go live, or get early access to the book at launch. Separate lists — sign up for one or both.

Story Updates

Follow the
living archive

Get notified when new stories go live on the site and social. No noise — just the moments worth sharing.

✓ You're in. We'll reach out when new stories go live.
Book Waitlist

Early access
& discount

Be first in line when the book launches. Waitlist members get an exclusive pre-order discount before the public release.

✓ You're on the list. Your discount is locked in at launch.