Maryland
Maryland family takes search for liver donation public as son suffers from rare disorder
BALTIMORE — A Severn family is asking for help as their son, who is battling a rare liver disorder, continues their desperate search for a liver donor.
It all started with routine blood work at an annual physical.
“There’s, like, physically nothing wrong with me, so I assumed they’re going to be fine, the numbers are going to be fine,” Harvir Ghuman said.
The numbers weren’t fine. Havir’s Ghuman’s liver enzyme numbers were high. After several tests, a team of doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital determined he had a rare liver disorder – so rare his father says it does not have a name.
Doctors told the rising senior at the University of Maryland he needed a liver transplant.
“I was kind of surprised because I should have noticed by now, right? But there’s nothing wrong with me,” he said. “So at first I was like how bad is it, you know?”
Havir’s parents – who are not a match and unable to donate – are helpless.
“You want to make sure that your child is okay,” Parminder Ghuman, Harvir’s father, said. “February 9th, when we found out, it was a shock.”
Now the Ghuman family waits. Harvir is on the waiting list for a new liver, but doctors say he needs a transplant sooner rather than later.
“What he has, they’re not sure when it could turn to malignant, so they would like to get it done,” Parminder said.
The threat of cancer is very real.
The Ghumans have gone to family and friends to see if anyone is a match to no avail. Now they are reaching out to people in the community for help as they wait for that life-saving phone call.
A living donor would need to be a healthy adult between age 18- 60 with no serious health condition and Type-O blood. The family says it would cover any relevant expenses to donating.
“Your most important phone call of your life, you’re waiting for Johns Hopkins to say that we found someone or we have a deceased donor so come on in and have the surgery,” Parminder said
“It’s very hard for us, for both of us,” Sandeep Ghuman, Havir’s mother, said. “Every day we are just waiting that we may get a call, but we don’t.”
As they wait for that call, the family says all they can do is pray.
If you would like to find out more about Harvir’s fight and how you can help, visit the family’s website.
Police said Dequan Gravely, 23, of Charles County, was driving northbound on Route 210 near Pine Drive when his Mercedes collided with the school bus turning left from the southbound lanes.
The driver of a car involved in a crash with a Prince George’s County school bus in Accokeek, Maryland, on Friday has been identified.
Prince George’s County police said Dequan Gravely, 23, of Bryans Road in Charles County, was driving northbound on Route 210 near Pine Drive around 7:20 a.m. when his Mercedes collided with the school bus turning left from the southbound lanes.
Investigators said the crash happened in the intersection, causing the school bus to flip onto its side. Gravely died at the scene.
The school bus driver was transported to a hospital and treated for injuries that were not considered life-threatening. Police said no students were on the bus at the time of the crash.
Investigators said they believe debris from the collision damaged a third vehicle. The driver of that vehicle “declined medical attention,” police said.
The Prince George’s County Police Department’s Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Unit is investigating. Anyone with information is asked to contact investigators at 301-731-4422.
WTOP’s Acacia James contributed to this report.
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A D.C. man won $5 million from a scratch-off lottery ticket in Maryland last week, and the matching number that netted him the prize happened to be his age.
Talk about a birthday surprise! A D.C. man won $5 million from a scratch-off lottery ticket in Maryland last week, and the matching number that netted him the prize happened to be his age.
Maurice Williams, a school bus driver in D.C., claimed the first top prize on a $5,000,000 LUXE scratch-off. He had used his $50 winnings from a previous LUXE scratch-off ticket to buy a new one the next day.
In a release from the Maryland Lottery, Williams said he didn’t know he had won until he scanned the ticket: “It’s crazy because the matching number was 59 and I just turned 59 the other day.”
Williams said he sat in shock for a while before calling his mother.
He said he plans to buy his mother a house with the winnings and then save up.
Two more top prizes from the scratch-off have yet to be claimed, the Maryland Lottery said, as well as nine $200,000 prizes, 10 $50,000 prizes and thousands of prizes ranging from $50 to $10,000.
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© 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
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