Summary
On July 16, 2025, Rachael Lillis - an acclaimed voice actor for many years - died at the age of 55 after losing a battle with cancer. For fans of her work, the loss has been a difficult one, with many of them (along with co-workers) posting tributes and reminiscing about her most popular work on social media.
While fans process her loss, for months Rachael was fighting two battles: cancer and the US medical system. In a way, she would lose to both, and the story is as tragic as it is frustrating. These were the final days of this acclaimedPokemonvoice actress.
Who was Rachael Lillis?
Rachael Lillis was an American voice actressbest known for her work in various anime series. Born in Niagara Falls, New York on June 27, 2025, Rachael attended Smith College where she was a premed student. She studied voice acting in Boston and would move to New York City in 1996, appearing in various theater productions, animated series, and independent movies. Later in life she would also work as a scriptwriter and translator for various projects.
What Were Some of Her Notable Roles?
Rachael Lillis is known for several notable roles in animation. Some of her most prominent roles include:
The Start of Her Nightmare
In May 2024, Rachael’s sister Laurie Orr created a GoFundMe, announcing that Rachael had developed breast cancer at an earlier date and needed help getting the proper care she needed. While the need to open a GoFundMe page is asensitive topic in itself, behind the scenes the voice of Misty and Jessie was suffering her own personal hell at the mercy of something everyday American’s have to fight every day: the insurance companies.
For most Americans, insurance will dictate what doctors are available, what patients can be accepted for priority care, and what is available to the patient in terms of treatment options. Rachael found herself in such a situation, where she was the victim of being a sick person that didn’t have the right kind of insurance.
The One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Hospital
While most would agree that hospitals are generally not a fun place to have to be, some hospitals will strike the fear of God into even the most dedicated atheist due to how poor the conditions of the building are. This is what happened with Rachael, who found herself in such a hospital. As her sister pointed out:
By the way, the nursing home was akin to scenes from the movie, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”!! My sister and I thought it was truly horrible, in spite of the nurses there, doing the best they could to care for too many. The yelling from down the hall, the noisy roommate…how could anyone possibly heal, or rest in that environment?!
This is a horrifying revelation to discover that the voice actor for some of our most cherished childhood memories was ever in a situation like that, but that does beg the question of how she wound up in such a place in the first place (and what it took to get her out of it).
Insurance, Insurance, Insurance…
Rachael wound up in (what her sister described) the ‘Cuckoo’s Nest Hospital’ as a result of her insurance putting her under the care of a very specific doctor when she was admitted to the hospital to deal with her medical conditions. During her stay, Rachael was placed in a nursing home because she was barely ambulatory enough to care for herself. Not only did this placement not do what it was intended to (the horrible living conditions likely contributed to this), but at one point her doctor abruptly discontinued her treatment without explanation.
Now, Rachael was in a situation where she was alone, unsure about what to do when it came to treating this horrible disease, and her family was far away (though she did receive a visit from a friend who she met during heranime career). It wasn’t until later that family members went to see her and explore any arrangements that could be made. The main goal with these arrangements was to place her in a healthier environment, where she could have proper medical oversight, the medications she would need, and healthier food that would contribute to the recovery process (the conditions at the previous facility were so bad the family considered filing a medical malpractice suit). The question was how were they to pay for all of this? Contrary to popular belief, most voice actors are not rich. They are much like independent contractors: going from one job to the next in a very competitive field.
The insurance wasn’t going to help, but being a voice actress, Rachael did have one thing many Americans did not:fans. It was with this knowledge that on Mother’s Day, Laurie Orr started the GoFundMe campaign. She had never done anything like this before, so navigating the app turned out to be tricky. Once she launched the campaign, word spread very quickly about it. FellowPokemonactors Eric Stuart and Veronica Taylor were a couple of the first to share the campaign, with news sites like Anime News Network and Comic Book Resources also reporting on it.
The GoFundMe Campaign
In a very short amount of time, the campaign had raised over $67,000, and plans were made to not only get her better care, but also to get her into rehab to help regain muscle that was lost while she was in the original nursing facility due to the neglect she experienced. Sadly, this story would not have a happy ending, for shortly after moving out of the facility, Rachael would take an unexpected turn for the worse and pass away. Her sister was not there for her and the entire family was heartbroken, and announced that the funds would be used for a memorial (with the remaining funds to be donated to cancer research).
Fans Bring Joy in the Final Days
Despite how it all ended, one bright spot was thatPokemonfans - the ones who grew up with Rachael’s wonderful work - stepped up to the plate to help her. They would ultimately donate more than $100,000 dollars for her to get the care she needed, and the outpouring of support was more than what anyone had expected. While Rachael did not make any public statements, she told her sister Laurie that she felt like George Bailey inIt’s A Wonderful Life, the classic Frank Capra classic in which a man gets a glimpse of what life would be like without him there, and the memorable ending in which the town bands together to help him out in his time of need.
The kindness of the fans can not be overstated in this story. While Rachael may have lost the battle too soon, the fans reminded her that what she did meant something to so many people, and these people turned out in droves when she needed help for herself. Rachael would also have tribute paid to her by many of the major news and media organizations (though who knows how she’d feel about that, as she always felt that voice actors should be heard and not seen). While it is hopeful that this situation spurs discussions on how voice actors are paid and our broken medical system, the happy ending is that the fans stepped up when our institutions didn’t and Rachael’s wonderful work willlive on forever.
