The moment Micki Walsh learned her adopted father needed a

kidney transplant, she offered hers.

"It wasn't even a question," Walsh, 29, said. "I love my father."

Though his daughter was confident, Howard Weinberg said he wasn't so sure.

"I didn't think kids should be giving organs to parents," he said.

She countered with: "Wouldn't you have done that for your mother?"

"Yes," he said. "I wouldn't have thought twice about it. My mother was young when she died."

In late December, the two laid on adjoining gurneys holding hands while awaiting surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. They were operated on simultaneously. They returned to Iowa City in January. Both operations were a success.

With the gift of his daughter's kidney, Weinberg, who before the surgery would get winded walking across his living room, has returned to his private practice of clinical

psychology with renewed energy.

His goal is to live to be an old man. He's already the second longest living male in his family. His father died at 40, his grandfather at 62.

Walsh, who teaches writing, has aspirations of becoming a professional kite flyer and surfer.

Did the surgery bring the father and daughter closer together? Yes and no.

They were already really close, Walsh said.

Weinberg agreed, adding that since the surgery he hasn't felt necessarily closer, but is more open to his daughter about his feelings.

The two often take their dogs, Charlie Parker Junior and Nolan Ryan, out for walks together. They hope to continue to do so for many years to come.

- Deanna Truman-Cook