Dale Atkin is a survivor

On October 12 it will be the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombing.

For Dale Atkin, 47, originally of Hallam in Victoria, it's a sombre anniversary as he reflects on his long and difficult journey to mental wellness.

As fate would have it Dale had arrived in Bali a day earlier than his AFL club footy mates at about 3pm on October 12.

Barely nine hours later he was in hospital with burns to 43 per cent of his body.

He was given a 30 per cent chance of survival.

“My mate Travis and I arrived a day earlier than the rest of the team. We had just found a seat at the bar of the Sari Club, it was about 10:30pm, we were on our second drink,” Dale says.

“I was looking out across the street at Paddy's and I saw this huge explosion, I turned to my mate Travis and I said 'what the ...'

The next minute the bomb planted inside a parked van outside the Sari Club went off and it was just pandemonium.

It was just dark, very dark. It was just after 11pm and a suicide bomber inside the nightclub Paddy's Pub (sometimes referred to as Paddy’s Irish Bar) detonated a bomb in his backpack, causing many deaths, and for those who could to immediately flee into the street.

Everywhere people were just screaming.

There was rubble absolutely everywhere.

He could feel the fire starting to ignite.

Dale thought he was going to die.

The whole roof of the Bali hut collapsed and the lads were stuck under it when the fire started.

They eventually crawled out and ran for their lives and ended up climbing up a brick fence.

Dale says adrenalin kicked in and he pulled himself up the wall.

The 2002 Bali bombings in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attack killed 202 people (including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, 23 Britons, and people of more than 20 other nationalities). A further 209 people were injured.

“First and foremost I will always pay my respects to the people who died however it could have been much worse,” Dale said.

As he was climbing up the wall the intense heat burned his skin on his back, back of his legs and arms.

His skin melted 43 per cent of his body and he was given a 30 per cent survival rate.

His mate Travis got over the wall first. There were only moments between them.

Dale ended up in an Indonesian hospital for 24 hours in excruciating pain without even so much as a Panadol to help him.

The Australian Army then evacuated the survivors in a Hercules to Darwin, from there he went to Melbourne where he spent four days in intensive care and a further seven weeks in the burns unit having multiple operations.

“The depth of my burns was that of half a cricket ball.”

The Elite level sales performer from Ray White Drouin credits his wife Katie and their three children as giving him the motivation to go on.

“My wife and family are 100 per cent my motivation. It took me 13 years to see a counsellor, and I want everyone to know there’s no shame in it. I was diagnosed with PTSD. I thought it was normal to relive the bombing every day,” Dale says.

“I have been trying to piece together what happened after I climbed the wall. Did I help someone else up? I cannot remember and survivor guilt is so real.

“Why didn't I die? At the end of the day I didn't get the help I should have and often men don't talk about their feelings.”

He says the “she’ll be right mate” answer is very common for many men.

“But I wasn’t fine. I could tell you where every single flame was in detail as I was reliving it every day in detail.”

Dale and Katie can recognise his triggers now, and get help.

“I think it’s very important for people to get help, especially when we work in a high performance sales culture.”

Some 12 years ago Dale started working at Ray White Drouin for principal Vince Di Grazia.

“I had no experience in real estate but Vince took a chance on me. And I have loved working there ever since. He’s a very supportive principal that recognises when I’m struggling and allows me the time to reset, gain clarity and take control again.”