Passion with a Purpose

Based in California and operating globally, ANGEL AID currently supports over 15,000 rare families across thirty-three countries, with plans to connect and educate 3.5 million Raregivers™ by 2026.

ANGEL AID provides mental health and wellness services to rare families through sustainable psychosocial training, transformative retreats, and a connective caregiver-to-caregiver multilingual network.

ANGEL AID believes in uplifting rare families by caring for the caregivers, particularly Rare Mothers™ who are the primary caregiver 82% of the time.

A Rare History.

Established in 2000, A Nonprofit Group Enriching Lives [ANGEL AID} was formed as a fundraising organization by Cristol Barrett O’Loughlin.  As a young girl, Cristol’s family spent decades living with the diagnosis and demise of her three older brothers.  Randy, David and Jared passed away at 12, 18, and 19 from the rare genetic disease Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPSII), also known as Hunters Syndrome.  

ANGEL AID was originally formed to raise funds for the National MPS Society (www.mpssociety.org) in the hopes of finding a cure for MPS disease.  Joined by a dedicated, empathetic group of UCLA Pi Beta Phi sorority sisters, Cristol and her Angels hosted a series of fundraisers, including Wishcraft (Halloween) and Wishes With Wings (Holiday) in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. 

In 2003, ANGEL AID was awarded Partner of the Year for funding significant MPS research grants - the same year Dr. Emil Kakkis and BioMarin receive FDA-approval for Aldurazyme - the first treatment for MPS disease.

For the next two decades, Cristol continued to host ANGEL AID fundraisers as the Rare Disease community strengthened and organized - in large part through organizations like NORD (National Organization for Rare Disorders), Global Genes and EURODIS.  

Yet for all the scientific advancement, there are still no cures for over 7,000 rare diseases and only 5% have treatments. In fact, there are 350 million people worldwide with rare diseases ~ half are children ~ a third of these children won’t see their 5th Birthday. 

The caregiving burden on rare families is unimaginable, particularly for mothers and fathers.  Cristol has witnessed this first-hand with her own mother, Phyllis Barrett-Reusche and Richard Lee Barrett.

In 2018, ANGEL AID was incorporated as a 501(c)3 organization and re-launched with the purposes to source research, relief and inspiration for families of children with rare diseases.

To hear stories of inspiring Rare Mothers™ and 3 Tools for Caregiver Self Care listen to Cristol’s  TEDx talk “Caring for the Caregivers”.