Veroney Judd-Stevens started fighting breast cancer in 2013 and now she is battling Bonitas Medical Fund to prevent it returning. Pietermaritzburg resident Judd-Stevens was diagnosed in October 2013 with breast cancer - a disease that killed her mother at the age of 44.She had the tumour removed, battled through chemotherapy and radiation, and is now cancer-free.But she had an aggressive form of cancer that was HER2-positive. This means that, to prevent a recurrence of the disease, she needs to take the drug Herceptin for 12 months - doing so reduces the risk of her type of cancer returning, and of death, by 40% to 50%.An annual course of the drug costs about R555000.Discovery Health Medical Scheme is one of the few medical aids that covers it, a decision made after the scheme faced court action in 2006 brought by women demanding that they be covered for the medicine.Judd-Stevens is with Bonitas and after upgrading her medical cover in 2014 was put on Herceptin for nine weeks, which the scheme contended was the duration accepted internationally - and nine weeks was better than none.Inexplicably, the scheme covered her treatment for a further several weeks, leading Judd-Stevens to believe that she was going to be covered for a year, said to be the international norm.According to the Independent Clinical Oncology Network, which advises local medical aids, 12 months is standard treatment but the biggest problem is the cost of the drug.But Bonitas stopped paying, forcing Judd-Stevens to approach the Council for Medical Schemes.She lost her case in August but won at an appeal hearing in March.Bonitas is now appealing that ruling, but did not inform Judd-Stevens before she started another round of Herceptin treatment.Bobby Ramasia, Bonitas's principal officer, said: "We empathise with the member. Bearing in mind that one 12-month course of Herceptin costs R558700, due to the limited financial resources available, medical aids must balance the need of an individual member against those of the total membership ."The Council for Medical Schemes' spokesman, Elsabe Conradie, agrees in part, saying costing studies revealed that Herceptin "might not be cost-effective or affordable for a medical scheme to use"."These people played with me in a way that is worse than what cancer does to you," said Judd- Stevens, referring to the stop-start treatment she has received.Each time she restarts the treatment, she has to do so from the beginning."When I saw them sponsoring the Comrades Marathon, I wanted to be sick. Bonitas can sponsor a race but it is too expensive to pay for a life," she said.The Bonitas appeal hearing is on September 3 and 4...