In May 2024, Rachael Lillis, best known for voicing Misty, Jessie, Jigglypuff and other characters in the original English dub of Pokémon, was announced by her sister, Laurie Orr, to have been diagnosed with breast cancer. The cancer had spread to her spine, which left her barely able to walk. Her insurance company put her in a hospital to receive care in January, but the noise in the hospital made it difficult for her to rest, and she was placed in a nursing home. Not helping was that at one point her doctor discontinued her treatment without explanation. Orr set up a GoFundMe campaign to help raise money for the cost of treatment. Several of Lillis’ fellow actors shared the campaign to help raise money for her care, and people around the world donated toward the cause, even just a few dollars. In a very short amount of time, the campaign had raised over $67,000. Orr would forward emails and comments to Lillis. When she saw the GoFundMe page with the comments and kind thoughts, she was moved to tears, comparing the response to the fund to It’s A Wonderful Life, when George Bailey learns just how much he is loved by his caring friends. She remembered many of the fans that she met at conventions, and related stories to them about the experience and all the people that she appreciated meeting. Plans were made to give Lillis better care and get her into rehabilitation to help regain muscle that was lost while she was in the nursing home due to the neglect that she experienced.[1][2] People on Twitter and DeviantArt did “Get Well” fanart in hope that Lillis would make a full recovery in future; some artists like Stardust-Phantom, Steamerthesteamtrain (a fan of Misty since 2008[3]) and Taipu556 depicted Misty and Jessie as suffering from cancer like her,[4][5][6][7][8] whereas _fairybees, Ultra-Shounen-Kai-Z, NintendoStar28 and streetgals9000 did art of Misty and Jessie posing and holding cancer awareness ribbon badges,[9] Jigglypuff giving a message to help Lillis,[10] Misty and her friends praying for Lillis’ recovery,[11] and Misty fighting Lillis’ cancer to save her life.[12] Unfortunately, on the night of August 10, 2024, shortly after moving out of the nursing home, Lillis passed away “peacefully, without pain” at the age of 55. The sad news was revealed by Orr and Veronica Taylor (the voice of Ash Ketchum in the original English dub) two days later on August 12, 2024. As news of Lillis’ passing spread online, Pokémon fans and other voice actors paid tribute to her with posts of their own, recounting how her work contributed to their childhood memories of watching the early seasons of the anime. Eric Stuart (the voice of Brock and second voice of James in the original English dub), called Lillis “his comedic partner in crime”, and told people to watch the original dub to celebrate her life. The Pokémon Twitter account posted a memorial message, which stated that her talent and work in the anime brought the characters to life, and that people will remember her for generations to come. It ended with thoughts and condolences for her friends and family. The campaign raised $98,000 by the time that Lillis died, with the money going toward her remaining bills, a memorial service and cancer research.[13][14][15][16][17] Lillis’ passing led to fans revisiting the ending of the English dub of Gotta Catch Ya Later! (which focused on Ash and Misty instead of the latter’s accomplishments as a Pokémon Trainer and friend in the original Japanese),[18][19] “Misty’s Song” from Pokémon 2.B.A. Master, “Under the Mistletoe” from Pokémon Christmas Bash, and Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire‘s promotional “It Takes Two” cover; ScorbunnyDream and MASTEROFEVIL commented, “This episode hits harder now that Misty’s original English voice is no longer with us,”[20][21] while Myles Wesley Kent posted, “Ash’s true love…is finally gone.” (As explained here by Zactoshi, the Japanese version had hints to PokéShipping, the romantic pairing of Ash and Misty, but 4Kids Entertainment made it a lot more obvious, sometimes adding suggestive shipping dialogue when there was not any to begin with. Former head writer Takeshi Shudo stated that there was never any “romance” intended in the anime, as Misty does not have romantic feelings for Ash and Shudo felt that it would be too distracting, but the other writers could not resist adding it anyway.[22][23][24][25][26] James Dorn of Expert Beacon stated that even though Ash and Misty have a close friendship with signs of mutual affection, their relationship remains strictly within friend territory.[27]) Several fans, including Kisaramoon,[28] SkylanderGuy2005,[29] Fre4k4life,[30] BunnyHeadproductions,[31] Boss Logic,[32][33][16][34] MysteryArt901,[35] Lapisfan2055,[36] Stardust-Phantom,[37] StuAnimeArt,[38][39] Elfilinfan,[40] thebestmlTBM,[41] DoraeArtDreams-Aspy,[42] Rakuneuro40,[43] Umbramatic,[44][45] TheAppleWing,[46] danielwartist,[47] still-a-fan,[48] NoahTigerDragon,[49] ShortyDante,[50] TheDborden,[51] CanyonCoyote/Gullfriend31,[52][53] MarioStrikerMurphy,[54][55] Miss-Barker,[56] ArtisticalManiac,[57] Rawshaw,[58] PSYLOD V and FlareVortex_,[59] TheMrRamonlle,[60] Diamond Dubs/ToniVA,[61] ImNotAllieZ,[62] FrankiLew,[63] PokeSonikkugirl12,[64][65] professoroak,[66] Lontoon22,[67] nijakingofhearts,[68] DojoAceFox,[69] Chris-theKid,[70] AelitaPandaZ,[71] ElijahDMGZ,[72] and Supersonia[73] did tribute art and animations in memory of Lillis, which depicted Misty, Jessie and Jigglypuff (and sometimes Utena Tenjou from Revolutionary Girl Utena[74][75][76]) as having passed away, with Steamerthesteamtrain commenting, “I’m sorry, but… Michele Knotz is #NotMyMisty. I know there is nothing we can do about Rachael, but Misty sadly died with her.”[77][78] On September 27, 2024, a memorial send off with Lillis’ sisters Brenda and Laurie and trumpet player Chris Tedesco was uploaded to YouTube,[79] in which her ashes were scattered in the ocean in Los Angeles. The video feels a lot like two scenes in Pokémon Shipwrecked; one where Ash and his friends (including Misty) and Team Rocket (including Jessie) are presumed by Officer Jenny to have died and “Taps” is played, and another where they find Team Rocket’s “drowned corpses” and, out of respect, decide to bury them at sea. On March 15, 2025, Lillis was posthumously included by the Children’s and Family Emmy Awards in its “In Memoriam” section.[80] On June 25, 2025, Taylor posted on Twitter that she, Tara Jayne Sands and Lisa Ortiz had been working with the Central Park Conservancy to dedicate a bench in Lillis’ honor in New York City.[81] On October 8, Taylor shared a closer look at the tribute and its inscription, “In honor of Rachael Lillis, whose iconic voice filled Saturday mornings, inspiring generations to come,” on Instagram.[82] On October 10, 2025, Steamerthesteamtrain said that when the bench was placed in Central Park, he received a thank-you letter from the American Cancer Society for a gift that he made in memory of Lillis in 2024.[83]
On the other hand, there were some people who did not like the tributes, with Redditor MetaGear005 commenting on Boss Logic’s tribute, “No hate to the artist, but I really don’t like the art coming out that makes Misty (and Jessie) dead…”[34] otnesse commented, “Rachael Lillis falling to cancer was definitely a terrible thing to happen. Well, at least Misty got a dang good send-off ultimately by being allowed to resume her goal prior to Rachael falling to cancer, much less dying.”[84] BeeWinter55 said, “Just because Rachael is gone doesn’t mean the character Misty will fade away. Like when Robin Williams passed away years ago, people still remember him and continued making fanart of the characters he voiced like the Genie from Disney’s Aladdin.”[85] That said, there was also fanart showing Misty, Jessie and Jigglypuff (and Utena) alive and well and cancer-free, grieving the loss of their former voice actress, done by artists like JAH99,[86] BeeWinter55,[87][88] Soraheartsforme,[89] RamosArtStation,[90][91][92][93] BenevolentBlonde,[94] animoatku85jr,[95] DarkEclipticHeART,[96] REDTAILS-97,[97] Tedster7800,[98] MSlash67-Production,[99] SidabaTheToonLord,[100] WebWalker756,[101] 2K11CiNCo,[102] ArellArtChannel,[103] VoreyUD,[104] ariannagirlfanatic14,[105] ardoplasma41,[106] AwesomeCraft,[107] bradders16,[108] NickyVendetta,[109] Toongirl18,[110] AmyandLuigifan,[111] rosolinio/Commander_Steel,[112][113] ChunkyLappy,[114] BellatrixETAoyama,[115] Ecreau,[116] TheFlittleOne,[117] MrNintMan,[118] vanillawaffer3000,[119] Sincity2100,[120] StarMVenus,[121] MaddiiCake,[122] SmashArtPG,[123] MirzaDoesArt2,[124] and Kswimmer93.[125] Some of the art had Lillis’ Pokémon characters losing their voices due to her death, in a manner similar to Ariel from The Little Mermaid (one could argue that the “dead” tribute art represents the characters’ voices dying with the actress and not the characters themselves),[126][127][128][129][130] while a few were based on Speechless, the lithograph done in tribute to Mel Blanc (whom Lillis cited along with June Foray as one of her influences[131]).[132][133][134] Other tributes saw the characters engaging in activities such as carrying MysteryArt901’s Lucas on their shoulders,[135] swapping attire and swimming,[136] having dinner together,[137] and listening to James’ rambling about bottle caps.[138] Two tributes by OcaRockaRina and BeeWinter55 have them thanking Lillis for giving them (and other Pokémon) a voice.[139][140] While I understand why the “dead” tribute art was made, I personally lean towards the “grieving” tribute art. This is because 1) Misty, Jessie and Jigglypuff are seen alive in their final appearances in the anime, and Mayumi Iizuka, Megumi Hayashibara (their Japanese voice actresses), Michele Knotz (their current English voice actress), Ayane Sakura and Reba Buhr (Misty’s voice actresses in Pokémon Masters) could always reprise their roles, should the characters return; 2) they (and Utena) are accompanied in the “grieving” tribute art by other characters voiced by Lillis who are not shown dead, such as Maylene, Natalie from Ape Escape, Danny from Sonic X, and Tomoe Ame from Usagi Yojimbo and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,[141][142][143] and 3) they still appear in fanart and fan comics to this day (done by artists like the aforementioned BeeWinter55,[144][145][146][147][148] TheBerryVoid,[149] Danthe25Man,[150][151][152] Monocromia01,[153] and vanillawaffer3000[154]), as well as fan animations and videos, including X-Rockets by ImNotAllieZ (voiced by her),[155][156][157] comic dubs by Diamond Dubs/ToniVA (voiced by her; Toni also did a cover of the Pokémon theme song as Misty and Jessie in tribute to Lillis[158])[159][160][161][162] Team Rocket is Blasting Back by Flaavii (voiced by Hannah Chapin),[163] Night of the Wild Gongachu by TheStupidHour (mentioned in the introduction as part of Team Rocket (Jessie only) and by James and Brock respectively, implying that they are alive within the video’s narrative),[164] How 4Kids Censored Pokémon by ChikoCheez (voiced by KittyHateMachineVA),[165] Ash Learns the Pokémon Leaks by Solid JJ (voiced by ValentinebabeVA),[166] and 2Snacks.[167] Some artists who previously did tribute art of Misty and Jessie suffering from cancer and/or dying would go on to do art where they are fine, portraying them as having gotten better and survived and/or been revived (something similar occurred when Dave Alvarez did tribute art of Granny rising to Heaven following the passing of June Foray in 2017,[168] yet in typical cartoon fashion she appeared fine two months later in New Looney Tunes, voiced by Candi Milo). For example, MysteryArt901 did art of Jigglypuff and Togetic mourning Lillis, Misty and Jessie while the former is comforted by Meowth and Pikachu,[35] and posted art of himself as a Majin from Dragon Ball comforting Misty and Jessie in September.[169] ImNotAllieZ did art of Misty, Jessie and Meowth in Heaven,[62] but would still upload X-Rocket episodes where they are alive. HollyLu uploaded an old drawing of Misty as an angel (made for McWizardX in 2002) after Lillis’ passing,[170] and did art and comics of her as an adult in the following months,[171][172] including the ongoing Christmas in Kanto.[173] After feeling that Misty died with Lillis, Steamerthesteamtrain posted art of his Pokésona Dennis and Misty as peasants in ancient Greece (although he would post art in 2025 of Dennis grieving Misty while imprisoned, the latter implied to have died trying to free him from the Roman tax collectors[174]),[175] being chased by Huggy Wuggy from Poppy Playtime during Halloween,[176] and on a date at McDonald’s to cope with the loss.[177] He would later post a Game Boy remake of MiyaToriyaka’s Returning on October 19, 2025, where Gary Oak finds Ash and Pikachu mourning Misty and comforts the former.[178][179] Taipu556 drew Ash tending to Misty and helping her recover,[8] then in the months following Lillis’ passing posted art of them surrounded by Ghost-type Pokémon during Halloween,[180] having a leaf fight during autumn,[181] and kissing each other during Christmas.[182] Flaavii did art of Jessie and Meowth walking to Heaven during the production of Team Rocket is Blasting Back, which was uploaded on August 29, 2024,[183][184] followed by art where Jessie is alive.[185] In an inversion of this, WumpaWebHead did art of Misty’s (accompanied by Togepi) “Get Well” card for Lillis,[186] but after Lillis died did art of his Spider-AU of the character, Aquatic Spinarak, mourning the original Misty.[187] Chris-theKid posted Poke Balls on November 20, 2024, where Team Rocket (including Jessie) meet Momo Ayase, Ken Takakura/Okarun and Turbo Granny from Dandadan,[188] and included Misty, Jessie and Jigglypuff in Media Memorial (2014-2024) the following month in December.[70] Bruedance uploaded an image named Silence, where Misty tearfully looks up at the sky, having lost her voice.[128] In December 2024, he posted Cerulean Winter Holidays Show, where Misty performs with Ash during the show, and Team Rocket (including Jessie) work on the lights and special effects from behind the stage; Misty performing and holding a microphone indicates that she got her voice back, albeit not done by Lillis.[189][190]
It is really tragic that Rachael Lillis had to go, having her life claimed by cancer at a young age. She may be gone, but her legacy and the characters that she voiced will live on. May she rest in peace.
mysuperendeavour 