to a video to a male student who was voted prom queen. and 103 years and counting, see the unique birthday celebration for one woman who is not slowing down a bit. first up, posing the question what would you do in a debate over manners on the metro? a pregnant rider went online to sound off about a seemingly able bodied rider who failed to offer her a seat. some reaction to the complaint is less than sympathetic. >> reporter: laurie takes the metro to work every day and on many of those days she says she has to stand despite being seven months pregnant. >> there's been people that have stared at my belly, reading a newspaper, looked up, look back down, they don't seem to care that i'm pregnant and carrying about 15 extra pounds and a tiny human. >> reporter: laurie's commute is 25 minutes each way. when no one gives up their seat,

she has to stand there holding the pole the entire time. >> sometimes it's interesting being stuck under somebody's armpit for 25 minutes. >> reporter: laurie says the morning and afternoon trains are often standing room only. she feels at least one rider should offer their seat to her or any expecting mom. >> a good deed doesn't go unnoticed. >> reporter: metro says it doesn't have a policy or regulation on this but hopes passengers use common courtesy and offer their seat to others who may need it more. but laurie says she doesn't see common courtesy, so she took to the blogs. there were more than 130 comments, some saying she chose to get pregnant, and that she's feeling smug and entitled. >> it's not an entitlement

thing, just my feet hurt and i would appreciate it if you give up your seat and i promise i'll appreciate you for it. >> reporter: some of the comments said she should ask someone to give her the seat instead of expecting someone to do it but laurie says doing that would make her seem more entitled. >> i'm sure by july 15th i will be ready to ask somebody for their seat. on the other hand, it shouldn't be a gift. >> next time, get up! crude and vulgar, that's how the high school describes a student produced video produced online. it happened after a male student was elected prom queen. in a letter sent home to parents the principal says it has been taken off of youtube. she said many of the students involved are remorseful. other students we spoke to also disapproved of the video. >> i can't really believe people

would go this far over prom king or queen? >> video? that wasn't a smart idea. they could have expressed their words in a different sense. >> the school would not comment what, if any action was taken against the student behind the video. the community has been supportive of the student's choice for prom queen. keeping tabs on what your kids post and say online can be overwhelming. but a local company claims to have the perfect digital parenting tool. we'll see how their software works and looks into the possible dangers of signing up. >> reporter: at 14, jared joiner is connected to the world. but every tweet, facebook post and text message he sends out catches the attention of one person. >> i monitor my own credit record. why would i not monitor my son? >> reporter: kevin joiner has been tracking his son for the past two months. this dad uses software called

youkn youknowkids. it lets him monitor his account and cell phone. >> i can look at all the messages or the ones they flagged as concerns or inappropriate. >> it's safe but also creepy. >> you would not want someone to monitor your child without their permission, that includes you. >> i had a situation in my household which hopefully most people will never have, my son was targeted by a child predator. >> reporter: that predator caught but he wanted to keep other families safe. out of their afrlington work space the group sold about 200,000 premium subscriptions at $10 a month. but cybersecurity experts warn of third party monitoring apps, all those pictures and text messages are kept somewhere. >> you are giving your phone to essentially another stranger and they're going to be able to pull up every place you have been. >> reporter: he says the team cannot readily access that data,

and if parents want to -- >> they can log into our system at they time and hit delete, it's a nuclear delesion, if you l from our system. >> reporter: joiner sees the app as a parenting tool. he expects to be using it with jared for a long time. >> i'll let him be his own person, but i also want to make sure that everything that is going on is safe. >> reporte we asked a local psychiatrist to weigh in on this type of parental monitoring. the doctor says he thinks this app makes sense for children up to seventh grade. you should tell them this app will be temporary until they demonstrate they are using social media responsibly. when it comes to older teens, dr. whiner does not recommend the app. either way, he doesn't believe parents should ever monitor their child's communication without that child know being it and the creators of you know kids echoed that sentiment. you can read more of the advice

and learn more about you know kids, that app, on nbcwashingn.com. just search parental monitoring. it's a growing concern for african-american women. still ahead, what local doctors are doing to combat rising rates of breast cancer. how a paralyzed athlete took on one of the toughest and dirtiest competitions around. and a four-legged wounded warrior gets a new mission and star ( telephone rings ) hi, honey. how's the camping trip?

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association of bomb detectors conference. luka's handler is also excited for the trip. >> i think it's a great opportunity. i was dog handler for 12 years. to bring awareness to the military working dog community is a tremendous opportunity. >> it's so good that united airlines is footing the bill for luka's trip. mike murphy was a star athlete and then in 2007 he broke his back and he was paralyzed. now a lot of things have changed in murphy's life, but that competitive spirit instilled by his parents allowed him to continue to push and persevere. we see murphy's latest imprs sie impressive accomplishment. >> mike murphy has long been an athlete, long before his high school days it was clear he was natural. >> i was always into baseball.

i got into football in high school. i come from a competitive family. >> reporter: the two-time "washington pos "washington post" baseball player took his game to ashland, virginia. for some college comes with carelessness. for mike, one late night decision would change the rest of his life and test his fortitude. >> i remember grabbing on to the chimney. the bricks sort of ripped off. i fell about 20, 25 feet. landed flat on my back. i shattered my t9 vertebrae. that left me paralyzed from here down. >> i answered the phone at 2:36 in the morning. i mean, it's something that you just never forget. 2:36 a.m. >> he was never down. he smiled. in rehab, you could always find where michael was. there was a big crowd of people. everybody was laughing. it was incredible.

>> even after a traumatic injury, whether it's a spinal cord injury or whatever, even a horrible broken leg, just something that limits you, i want that person to know your life isn't over. >> reporter: today the world is his playground. skiing in colorado. street races including the new york city and boston marathons. and the best test of them all, the tough mark. >> it's about 10 to 12 miles, one obstacle after another. that's kind of like what happened with me with my accident. it was just one obstacle after another. >> the bottom line is michael can do every single thing you and i can do except walk. >> and he's more than made up for that. >> love his spirit. there may be a medical reason why you can't stay away

from starbucks. coming up, the change that may explain why it's so hard to kick that caffeine habit. and she's hoping to save lives by sharing her story. a local woman explains why she held off on seeking treatment for breast cancer.

in news 4 your health, this may explain why some people have a tougher time kicking a coffee habit than others. caffeine withdrawal is classified as a mental illness. especially in people who quit cold turkey. the "wall street journal" reports that the disorder appears in two psychiatric updated manuals. the goal is to help people deal with headaches and mental fuzziness that often comes with withdrawal. we have made a tremendous progress in the fight against breast cancer, identifying it earlier and treating it more successfully than ever before. but there are still some women

out there that wait before they get those breast screenings that might save their lives. it seems to be a particular problem amongst african-american women. doctors in prince george's county are trying to change that. >> part of it is the fear. that's the first thing. i think with breast cancer, any kind of cancer, any kind of major illness, the first thing you have is a sense of fear. >> reporter: that fear prevented 55-year-old sandra yates from getting a lump in her breast checked out. instead she waited and waited for nine months. >> there was the fear of how do i be sick, you know. what would this treatment entail? and so i pushed it all to the side. >> reporter: by the time yates went to the doctor, she was diagnosed with advanced stage triple negative breast cancer, a deadly and aggressive form of the disease that's more common among african-americans. it took a full year of chemotherapy, surgery and radiation to treat her cancer.

doctors say yates isn't alone. they're seeing lots of women who are hesitant to get screened. >> i think it's more common than we realize, especially in prince georges county. there is a very educated population. most of them are government employees, so they have pretty good insurance. there is just still a lot of fear, there is a lot of denial. >> reporter: doctors community hospital breast surgeon dr. regina hampton says it's that fear and denial of a breast cancer diagnosis that has caused mortality rates in the county to rise. in prince georges, the rate is 31. that means for every 100,000 people, 31 of them will die of breast cancer. compare that to montgomery county's rate of 20 and fairfax county's, which is the same as the u.s. average, 23. >> the women in our community don't tend to get mammograms as often, and if they do find something abnormal on their own self-exam, they tend to wait longer. >> reporter: dr. hampton says the fear is so pervasive in some

african-american communities because of misinformation and lack of knowledge about how treatable early-stage breast cancer can be. she also says too few women in leadership positions have talked publicly about their battle with breast cancer. >> we need more of those women to step forward, we need more sandras to step forward so women have examples to see, yes, i can be diagnosed with breast cancer and i can survive. >> reporter: and that's exactly why sandra yates is telling her story. >> a lot of times sometimes in communities of color, perhaps we put a little too much emphasis on the difficulties that are associated with breast cancer and not on the fact that it's actually a very treatable disease. >> it's been nearly three years since sandra yates was diagnosed with breast cancer. she says she is doing quite well now and has no recurrences. but she admits she is embarrassed she waited so long

to get checked but is hoping her story can help other women do different than what she did and get checked earlier. a 45-year-old man from springfield, virginia, is trying to fight cancer quite literally. he is tattoo tom mitchell and his daughter shayla died of hodgkin's disease in 2009. news 4 met him five years ago when he was training for his first boxing match to raise money for cancer patients. this year he took the fight out of the ring and on to the streets running in a 50-mile long ultra marathon. >> what i hope do by these events and activities is to replicate the struggle that children with cancer are going through. you often hear people say they're warriors, but they're not. they're little kids. they have to run 50-mile races every day. they have to get in the ring and fight these unbeatible foes every day. >> tom finished his marathon.

all the money he raised will go to his non-profit still brave which helps children with cancer. well, a local grandmother is not slowing down. in fact, she's showing us just how racy she can be. >> i said are you going to go home with me? i wouldn't mind taking a cute boy home with me. >> love it. more on her 103rd birthday celebration is coming up next. celeb[ male announcer ]p next. a blt is good.

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it's made from real fruit flavors and sweetened with honey. lipton tea & honey. real ingredients just taste great. feel the delicious taste of lipton tea & honey. that's why we're donating to wounded warrior project. at brawny® paper towels, we admire strength. we stand strong with our nation's heroes and their families. pick up a specially marked package of brawny® to learn how you can help. former president george h.w. bush recently rang in his 89th birthday with style. check out his picture from the former president's office. mr. bush is a fan of wearing those colorful socks. you can see these got on a pair of superman socks, even complete with a little cape on the ankles. so cute. also celebrating a big birthday is doris. she just turned 103 years old,

and her friends threw her a party at one of doris's favorite places she likes to go to the grocery store. >> reporter: balloons, cake and the birthday girl. meet 103-year-old doris woodring. >> i didn't know what to expect. i was floored. >> reporter: the staff of this giant grocery store in woodbridge know doris well. she visits every monday. >> we wanted to do something for her. we decided to throw a party for her. >> as soon as they pinned the corsage on her, she was ready to make the rounds. for 18 years she's been cruising these aisles filling her cart. on this visit she proved extra popular. >> congratulations on your 103rd birthday. >> thank you. >> you look quite wonderful. >> i feel wonderful. i don't have any pain. >> reporter: living in a retirement community now, doris is proud of her energy, her independence. she says laughing helps. and as wfollowed doris through the store, she had plenty of jokes to keep us laughing.

>> i said, are you going to go home with me? i wouldn't mind taking a cute boy home with me. you want to go home with me, too? >> reporter: at checkout, her tab taken care of. and doris left her friends with some grateful words. >> i love every one of you. thank you from the bottom of my heart! my 103-year-old heart. >> reporter: doris stepped back on her bus and headed home. she'll be back next monday. >> bye bye! >> reporter: in woodbridge, virginia, i'm david colburn, news4.

speaking out. a news 4 exclusive. one local woman has a message for the people who may have been