Membership resuscitation declined due to history

I’m really disappointed at the way Virgin Active is handling my case. I was a member of the gym and unfortunately fell pregnant and too I’ll to continue gym. My sin in this was that I didn’t inform the gym so my membership would be cancelled - assuming they’d automatically detect this since I had not been swiping my card. The last thing on my mind during that time was calling the gym to tell them I want to put my membership on hold while fighting for my life and trying to spare the pregnancy till full term. Now I want to go back to gym and I’ve been told I need to pay over R7k before they can resuscitate my membership which I honestly find ridiculous. I’m not running away, why can’t I be allowed to resuscitate the membership while I try to find a way to resolve my current issue with them? I’m honestly disappointed and the way I’ve always had full confidence in the brand and wanted to remain a loyal client and not go with the opposition but to be told no is so crushing.