Paddy Doherty has told how the 'superhuman' efforts of doctors and nurses saved him from dying from coronavirus.
The My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding star was taken to hospital six days ago with double pneumonia and Covid-19, the Daily Star reports.
Doctors gave the bare knuckle boxer just a 50 per cent chance of survival as they found to save his life, as they told him: "You can beat this, Paddy".
And they were proven to be right.
Just six days after his admission to the Countess of Chester Hospital in Chester, the 61-year-old is now back at home counting his blessings.
He said he will be "forever" indebted to the National Health Service for saving his life.
Paddy described the haunting image of people dying next to him as he and others fought the deadly virus.
The former Celebrity Big Brother star told the Daily Star: "The doctors and nurses were all around me. I felt like I was paralysed in my body because I couldn't do anything.
"I couldn't raise my hand, my head or even speak. I had no strength. The doctors were putting all these drips in me and I thought: 'This is it.'
"They gave me some drugs and said if they didn't work, I'd have to go on a ventilator and that I had a 50/50 chance of survival, but they told me thought I could beat it."
He added: "I saw death right before me. I was in this room and everyone with Covid was tagged.
"I've never seen anything like it before in my life. You're looking at people and they're coming in and being rolled out and you're saying: 'He's not made made it, he's not made it, he's not made it.
"I couldn't believe it. I really thought I was a goner and that my number was up.
"Everyone can talk about how this isn't happening, but this is real."
Paddy said you don't realise it until something happens to your relatives. He witnessed a nurse breaking down and crying.
"She was at breaking point and said: 'Paddy, I've never prepared for something like this."
He added: "People have got to realise this isn't made up. This is real and so many people are losing their lives."
His beloved wife, Roseanne, is looking after the star as he recovers. He wept as he recalled being placed in the back of an ambulance and thinking he was never going to see her again.
"Roseanne was crying as they put me in the ambulance", he added. "She kept saying: 'I love you Paddy' and I said to her 'don't cry baby, I'm alright. I'm alright.
"I knew I wasn't alright though. I was thinking: 'This is is it. I'm gone now'.
"Covid is so real. It frightens you. I wasn't crying because I thought I was going to die. I was crying because I was leaving my lovely wife. It was bad. I wouldn't wish it on anyone."
He described how he's been a fighter all his life and he said: "It really is a miracle from God."
Paddy has started a petition calling for a 10 per cent way increase for NHS staff. He's vowed to do charity work when he's strong enough to raise funds, describing them as "miracle workers".
"If I was a millionaire, I would give it without a blink of an eye. The NHS saved my life and gave me back to my wife. It's the least I can do."
