Serious kidney disease can creep up on people without showing symptoms

This article is part of “Innovations In: Kidney Disease,” an editorially independent special report that was produced with financial support from Vertex. Alex Berrios arrives at the dialysis clinic when the world is still dark, shortly after 5:00 A.M. In his backpack, the Louisville, Ky., man carries a notebook for journaling and a laptop and earbuds to watch movies. Sometimes he meditates during his nearly four-hour treatment three days a week or tries to doze as the machine that keeps him...