DOE Bronze - first expedition troubles

[Dilbertian]

Dd has had to drop out of the first expedition that her team had planned as part of their DoE. I know 10 days is very short notice, but she is injured and unable to walk for long, let alone carry a rucksack.

I am very concerned one of the other parents wants the expedition to go ahead without dd. But the expedition is about building team spirit, reliance on and looking out for your team. Not abandoning one of them because they are inconveniently injured!

How can I bring this up without antagonising the parent?

I also have a long term health issue that meant I was exempt from having to carry a heavy rucksack when I did my gold expedition. In fact, we had a girl in a wheelchair in our group, which was challenging in different ways trying to get over stiles and gates in the Lake District.

If trips were cancelled for every individual who got injured, took unwell, had to isolate etc they would never go ahead.

We had some independents join us for our silver and gold expeditions, they couldn't complete with their original group so joined ours, the group leaders were brilliant with just rolling with it and talking about the safety aspect of numbers as well as injuries.

It's a shame, but it happens quite alot - its actually a pretty important life lesson in contingency planning.

You'd be furious if your DD's expedition were to be cancelled because somebody else's child sprained their ankle.

You don't build team spirit by having one person decide that nobody else can go if she can't.

It's completely normal practice for expeditions to go ahead without a team member. Finding another date everyone can do may not be easy. And what is someone else is injured then? If there are enough people in the team they should absolutely go ahead without your DD. I know it will be upsetting for your DD but it's just one of those things.

This ^ , and what absolutely everyone else has said.
It takes a MASSIVE amount of work by VOLUNTEERS to organise and then support DofE expeditions. It is unfortunate that your dd has been injured and had to withdraw, but there is no reason in the world why the others shouldn't go ahead (numbers permitting).