'His life was too short': Sandie Rinaldo shares, for the first time, the loss of her son

As a journalist, Sandie Rinaldo has always been reluctant to reveal too much to the viewers. But as she marks her 50th anniversary with CTV, she is sharing publicly, for the first time, some of the tragedies that she's experienced in her personal life, including the death of her infant son.

When CTV National News Executive Producer Rosa Hwang pitched the idea of a network special to mark my 50th anniversary with CTV, which has since turned into two specials — we talked about my comfort level in revealing personal aspects of my life I have kept private all these years.

As a journalist, I’ve always been reluctant to reveal too much to you, the viewers. After all, I report on other people’s stories — not my own. But as Rosa said to me — it’s time.

The first special called “I’m Sandie Rinaldo” retraces my parents’ journey to Canada after the Second World War. Rosa also asked me about losing my husband to cancer and other tragedies I’ve experienced since I walked in the door of CTV on May 6, 1973.

Much of what I shared I’ve never spoken about publicly before; like, losing my son, shortly after he was born.

I had already had my first child, a daughter, during a very public pregnancy, while I was the news anchor on CTV’s Canada AM. I was one of the first women in Canada, if not the first, to go through an entire pregnancy on national television. Remember it was pretty much a man’s world back then; it had only been a few years that a tiny handful of women in North America were in these high profile jobs.

I was co-hosting with Norm Perry in 1980, just before Christmas, when I began experiencing the early stages of labour. The story has likely been embellished over the years; a frazzled Norm timing my contractions during commercials and calling for towels to be on standby. We laugh about it now, but when I phoned my obstetrician to ask what to do, he reassured me that if the contractions stopped when I stood up and walked around, it was the body getting ready to give birth, but not quite the real thing, just yet.

Our daughter was born the next day and by early February, I was back at work sharing photographs of my precious girl with correspondent Craig Oliver; the two of us filling in as co-hosts on Canada AM.