Cell C
My personal phone number was deactivated

I lost my personal phone number (0791240730) after i cancelled a data contract with cellc, the call centre guy that helped me told me that if i cancel my contract i will loose my number, i had no choice but to cancel it since i cannot afford it any more, when i try to re-activate it i was told that it is not possible i must get myself a new number since mine was already removed from the system, for me i think it is not fair because i have been using that number since 2006, all my life depend on that phone number, i cannot do any banking, and no institution is able to contact me now, i am frustrated, please tell me what to do