Igor Tereshenko, 24, Dmitry Smirnov, 34, and Alexey Smirnov, 26, (not related) all saw their lives
fall apart after alcohol and drug abuse killed their friends, made them drop out of school and work and infected them with HIV. All three began antiretroviral treatment very late.
Igor became paralyzed from the waist down in the summer of 2007 due to a spinal tumor. Although he made progress on antiretroviral treatment, his doctors decided to discontinue the treatment when they realized that he would soon die from his inoperable tumor. Igor died six weeks after Majoli’s first visit to Russia.