Scott Smith can't be away from home for more than one or two nights at a time, and he hasn't been able to visit family living out of Tauranga for more than three years.

He's a haemodialysis patient. Hooking up to a dialysis machine for around nine hours every other night at his Greerton home, Scott simply doesn't have the freedom.

Scott Smith planning his next holiday aboard his Freedom Dialysis Project campervan.

But that's all about to change after the 40-year-old set up the Freedom Dialysis Project, which is raising funds for a modified campervan complete with an on-board dialysis machine for patients to hook up to whenever and wherever.

'I can't go anywhere for more than one to two nights without organising dialysis at a nearby hospital,” he explains.

'If there's no nearby hospital then it's pretty impractical for me to go away.

'Sometimes to organise dialysis at a nearby hospital isn't straightforward and can be difficult if they can't fit you in.”

Dialysis is a treatment process of cleaning wastes from the blood artificially for those suffering kidney disease. It does the job normally done by a person's kidneys when they fail.

He needs $150,000 – perhaps the cost of his freedom.

Scott was born with a hereditary kidney condition and began dialysis in 1999. Fed up with being cooped up at home, Scott and his family travelled to Christchurch.

The city wasn't necessarily number one on his travel list – but it's the only place in NZ with a campervan with a built-in haemodialysis machine for hire.

Travelling the South Island with his wife and children in the campervan, the holiday gave him a short sense of freedom.

He says: 'That just made such a difference, having that sense of freedom again, with the family and I able to just go away for more than a night or two.”

Wanting to bring independence to Bay of Plenty dialysis patients, Scott formed a committee of haemodialysis patients, doctors, nurses and Waikato Renal Services staff and set up a charitable trust and the Freedom Dialysis Project.

'If I'm going to benefit from it then I know all the other home-based patients are going to benefit from it,” says Scott.

He's hoping the campervan will be ready by March/April 2015, so people can start planning holidays.

The campervan will be available to the more than 100 haemodialysis dialysis patients in the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Region.

Top of Scott's list is visiting his extended family. 'The idea is to have a bit of trip catching up with friends and family, who we haven't been able to visit for the last three years,” he adds.

Visit the Freedom Dialysis Project Facebook or Givealittle page to donate.