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''I felt human again,'' he said.
Kroucik was participating in the Alzheimer's Association's 16th annual public policy forum, which began Sunday and ended yesterday in Washington, D.C. The forum included information on medicines, how to cope with the disease, new research and how to approach Congress and the Senate.
Kroucik, 58, said he was ''born and bred in Lorain.'' He has lived in Elyria since he married Barb 23 years ago, he said. The couple has six children and five grandchildren.
After being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, Kroucik got involved with the Cleveland Area Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, attending all its meetings, he said.
Three weeks ago, he spoke at the Alzheimer's Association Ohio Council Memory Day in Columbus, he said.
Kroucik said he prepared the speech he gave yesterday with the Cleveland Area Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.
The only problem was the speech was ''only five minutes,'' Kroucik said. ''I could talk for hours.''
Kroucik worked for U.S. Steel, which later became Republic Technologies International and Republic Engineered Products, in Lorain. He had to retire because of Alzheimer's, he said.
''It was unsafe for me to work there,'' he said.
Kroucik remembers driving home from work one night near Midway Mall and not knowing where he was. He had to pull over and watch the flow of traffic and only was able to find his way home because he recognized the mall, he said.
''I don't know how I'd ever get home (if I hadn't recognized Midway Mall),'' he said.
Barb said she knew something was wrong with her husband three years before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
It used to take Kroucik less than an hour to mow the lawn, but Alzheimer's turned the activity into a three- or four-hour chore, he said.
The Cleveland Area Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association ''made my life turn around,'' Kroucik said.
The organization provides information about medication and doctors and offers counseling, he said. For the counseling, those diagnosed with Alzheimer's go into one room, and their caregivers go into another room to discuss the challenges of the disease, he said.
Kroucik signed up for an Alzheimer's study at the federally funded University Memory and Aging Center at University Hospitals in Cleveland, so that others don't have to experience what he has, he said.
Kroucik is taking one of the five available Alzheimer's drugs.
''Thank God, right now I'm doing pretty well,'' he said.
Doctors now know that certain vitamin supplements can help slow the onset of symptoms in Alzheimer's, which affects about 4.5 million Americans.
Researchers are close to confirming new discoveries but need more federal funding, Sheldon Goldberg, president and chief executive of the Alzheimer's Association, told members of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on labor, health and human services.
The Chicago-based association announced yesterday it is creating the Coalition of Hope to lobby for an additional $40 million for Alzheimer's research.
The National Institutes of Health received about $661 million this year to research the disease, a 3.7 percent increase from $640 million in 2003. The federal government had been increasing the funding by about 15 percent annually in the past five years, the association said.
''For the first time ever, there's hope to significantly delay the onset of the disease and lessen its impact,'' Goldberg said. ''But left unchecked, Alzheimer's will ... overwhelm our health-care system, bankrupt Medicare and Medicaid, drain billions of dollars from American businesses and destroy the retirement security for tens of millions of families.''
Medicare costs for patients with Alzheimer's are expected to jump nearly 55 percent in the next few years, from $31.9 billion in 2000 to $49.3 billion in 2010, according to the association.
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive illness that destroys cells in the brain. Common symptoms include losing memory, comprehension, language skills and the ability to do routine tasks.
Kroucik, diagnosed two years ago, told lawmakers that treatment is helping. He said the additional funding would help in the effort to identify treatments that could further slow or even halt the disease.
''It won't be easy given the current budget situation. However, it is something we have to do,'' he said. ''We cannot afford to wait.''
Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, a subcommittee member who led the hearing, said lawmakers would consider the group's request. The panel is charged with determining federal funding levels for all programs and dozens of research requests involving health care, education and labor.
