By Dr. Jon LaPook Chief Medical Correspondent Jon LaPook, M.D. is the award-winning chief medical correspondent for CBS News. Since joining CBS News in 2006, LaPook has delivered more than 1,500 reports on a wide variety of breaking news and trending stories in the health and medical fields, as well as feature stories on music, lifestyle and profiles of entertainment stars. Read Full Bio Updated on: February 22, 2026 / 1:12 PM EST / CBS News Add CBS News on Google When 13-year-old music prodigy Itzhak Perlman performed on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1958, viewers could see his extraordinary talent. What they couldn't see were the braces and crutches he needed to walk.  Perlman was four when he contracted polio. "I was already running and walking, and I remember one morning when I got up and I couldn't stand," he said. "I usually would stand up in the bed. And then I would go out and get dressed and so on. All of a sudden it was like, Stop. Can't do that anymore.…