Thirty years ago, a bungee jump in Hapert went horribly wrong. Mike van Wordrageren (23) from Den Bosch died due to a rare mistake. His girlfriend, Jennifer Khodabaks (then 20, now 50) stood by and lost the love of her life. “We had been together for six years and had already made hundreds of jumps together.”
Mike’s death 30 years ago will always stay with Jennifer and is a common thread in her life. Now, 50 years old and with a 23-year-old daughter, she can look back on the tragedy without tears.
“Immediately after Mike’s fatal accident, I went into a bubble and stopped all emotions,” she says about that time in the 1990s. “I didn’t want to feel it and started traveling to find out who I was. I also partied for years to avoid thinking about my own feelings.”
Jennifer had just turned 20 when Mike jumped to his death in Hapert. “He made a mistake. He wanted to do a special jump and was only attached to his harness and not also to his ankles. He did not tighten the carabiner properly, which caused him to come loose from the bungee cord during the jump and fall down.”
The Market in Hapert was packed that Sunday in September 1993, because it was Boerenmert and bungee jumping was still so new that many people wanted to see it with their own eyes. “We both worked for G-Force Promotions from Den Bosch. Mike had jumped with them once in the Beekse Bergen and was so enthusiastic that he wanted to work there. He did this in addition to his job at Michelin. I also went to help. I reassured the people downstairs and checked whether they were properly secured. He went upstairs with them.”
“I made dozens of jumps in that time and he probably made hundreds. Together we also made duo jumps. He was a daredevil and always pushed the edge. ‘See you in hell’, he shouted as he jumped.”
Just before the bungee team went to the Boerenmert in Hapert, Mike and Jennifer were in Ibiza with the owner of G-Force and his wife and a good friend of Mike. “We stood there for three weeks with a crane at the port. We always jumped above the water and if you wanted we could let you get your head right into the water. It was super busy. Every day, countless people wanted to take a leap.”
“We heard a loud snap in the bungee cord.”
But, in Ibiza, Jennifer decided she never wanted to jump again. “We jumped down together and we heard a loud snap in the bungee cord. I was so shocked and I stopped immediately. Mike continued. We immediately got rid of that bungee cord.”
Immediately after their trip to Ibiza, the G-Force team went to the Boerenmert in Hapert. “Because there was no water there, we just put an air cushion under the tap,” Jennifer remembers. “Some people had already jumped when Mike went to do his demonstration. He went upstairs, but things went wrong. I saw him fall and also saw him lying on the ground. Then everything was shielded and we were taken care of. Remko, who had gone upstairs with Mike, had to stay there for hours because research had to be done.”
Then followed a tough walk to Mike’s mother in Den Bosch. “Mike was her only child. She was never very happy with his hobby and when she saw me standing at the door, together with the police, she already knew what time it was. She immediately screamed and screamed.”
Mike’s cremation a week later was well attended. Completely in his spirit there was a white funeral car, black roses and his music: Rage against the Machine and Red Hot Chilli Peppers. “He had already said how he wanted it. Smoking his ashes and celebrating. We didn’t do that with those ashes, but there was a lot of drinking.”
“After that I started traveling a lot,” says Jennifer. “Israel, India. I was away for a total of four years. I started looking for myself, for meaning. It wasn’t until I was 38, after lots of partying and countless jobs, that I changed course. I went to AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) and only then did I discover how deeply Mike’s death affected me. I had hidden everything away all those years.”
Jennifer started training and became a coach. “I have turned all those bad experiences into wisdom and strength. And now I help others. First in a clinic and now, for a few years, I have my own practice in Den Bosch, Rahealing. I coach people and teach them to deal with their unpleasant memories and bring them back into contact with their inner strength.”
“Now I have overcome my fear.”
Now, after thirty years, Jennifer can calmly look back on her friend’s death. “For example, I couldn’t watch a movie that involved jumping from heights. I got rid of that through EMDR therapy. Last year I went paragliding in Spain to be confronted with height again. I was super nervous, but it was fantastic. Now I have overcome my fear.”
Things didn’t go as well with other people close to Mike, Jennifer knows. “The owner of the company immediately stopped bungee jumping. He took the accident very seriously. And it was also very difficult for his mother. She had already been divorced before and lost her only child in that accident.”
For years, Jennifer dealt with Mike’s accident on her own. “Now I realize that the story of Mike’s death is the story of many more people. For example, there were thousands of people in Hapert. They have experienced all this too.”
Jennifer couldn’t look at the photos of her time with Mike for years. That works now. In her practice in Den Bosch she looks back at the photos from Ibiza. “Look how we tied those straps around the ankles. Those were really the early days.”
She now receives people every day as a coach in her practice. “Through all my experiences in life, I can now help others find themselves.” When she tells this, she beams. Dealing with Mike’s death and her years of searching for herself have also brought her a lot. “I was hurt, but not broken. Luckily I had the strength to get out of it myself.”
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