A dad of three thought he was next after watching a man die in the hospital bed next to him.
Cllr Les Rowlands told the ECHO about his "near death experience" that left his wife, Paula, preparing to be a widow.
The 69-year-old from Heswall, Wirral, also spoke of the guilt he felt when the curtains were drawn around the bed of a younger man who lost his fight with Covid-19.
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He said: "I had been isolating with my wife in the first lockdown and we had only been going to the supermarkets.
"I didn't think I had covid, just the flu and I started finding it difficult to climb the stairs and becoming dizzy and fainting - I couldn't even walk to the toilet.
"It was my wife who made the call to take me to hospital and it was there that they found I had blood clots on my lung and confirmed I had covid."
The blood clots had been restricting Cllr Rowlands' oxygen levels and he was quickly isolated in Arrowe Park's covid ward and put on a full ventilator and developed covid-pneumonia.
He said: "At the time, we still didn't really know a lot about the virus and the staff asked me if I would be part of some of their experimental treatments.
"I told them to do what they had to do."
Conservative Cllr Rowlands was put on four litres of oxygen an hour and said he was "in and out" of consciousness throughout his month long stay in hospital.
He said: "There was one night at 3am when I really thought I was gone.
"My wife had not been able to visit but had rang every day for an update, she was preparing to become a widow.
"A man next to me lost his fight and the curtains were drawn around him.
"Hospital staff came around to reassure us on the ward, but we thought we were next. There was a feeling of panic.
"And then there was this tremendous sense of guilt, I had been talking with that man and he was a young man with a daughter and he had lost his life while I was still alive.
"I didn't expect to survive at all, I had nearly given up, but it was the NHS staff, they saved me, they didn't give up on me, they fought and fought."
Cllr Rowlands spoke at a meeting of Wirral Council's Environment, Climate Emergency and Transport Committee on Monday evening where he praised the work of the local NHS and Wirral's director of public health Julie Webster for all their efforts during the pandemic and beyond.
He said: "I got a little upset at the meeting because it brought it all back, but I praised Julie and the NHS teams across Wirral for all their work because we accepted the patients from Wuhan and through that we were able to gain an advantage early about the virus.
"We fought above our weight here in Wirral with all the hard work of council officers, hospital staff and all parties across the council.
"Everyone was in the same boat at the beginning, but I firmly put my survival down to their hard work and I can not thank or praise them enough."
Cllr Rowlands has long covid and is still being treated for the damage the virus did to his lungs.
Because of the toll it has taken on his health, Cllr Rowlands revealed to the ECHO he has taken the decision to step down at the next elections in May after serving the community of Heswall for 26 years.
He said: "A near-death experience changes you mentally and physically - it changes you whole perspective on life."
Hoping to enjoy his retirement with his wife Paula, 54, son Mark, 44, two daughters Hannah, 28, and Sarah, 24, and their expended families, he added: "I want to thank all the people of Heswall who have voted for me over the years."
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