Rachael Lillis GoFundMe Campaign

Overview

Rachael Lillis GoFundMe Campaign or Pokemon's Misty Voice Actress Rachael Lillis GoFundMe Campaign refers to a crowdfunding campaign created by Rachael Lillis' sister to help the original Pokémon dub voice actor in her battle with cancer. Lillis is an American voice actress known for dubbing a series of popular anime characters, most notably Misty and Jessie from the Pokémon anime series. The news about her GoFundMe campaign in May 2024 was met with an outpouring of support by fans of the series, sparking virality on Twitter / X and Reddit.

Background

On May 13th, 2024, a GoFundMe^[1] page titled "Help my sister Rachael with medical needs" was created, which claimed that American voice actress Rachael Lillis "is currently in a nursing home facility in Los Angeles" since January 2024 due to a breast cancer diagnosis that spread to her spine, making her unable to walk properly (shown below).

Developments

The $20,000 goal to help Lillis' cancer battle was achieved in less than 24 hours after the GoFundMe was created. As of May 14th, 2024, the campaign has accumulated $43,000 in donations.

Online Reactions

In mid-May 2024 as word quickly spread online, Pokémon fans started to share Rachael's GoFundMe campaign on social media, posting wholesome fan art and messages in support of the actress. For instance, on May 13th, 2024, X^[2] user @kianamaiart posted a fan art of Jessie, one of the characters that Lillis had originally dubbed (shown below, left), asking other Pokémon fans to send donations, which received over 31,000 likes and 7,700 reposts in a day.

On May 14th, the X^[3] page @OoCPokemon also posted a picture of the voice actress asking people to send donations and the caption "We're with you all the way through to the bitter end as you fight these difficulties in life. Keep on keeping on! You got this!" The post (shown below, right) garnered more than 7,300 likes and 3,400 reposts in less than a day.

Redditors also commented on Rachael's GoFundMe campaign, as user @Kenshin1296^[4] posted a message to the /r/pokemonanime channel inviting other fans to donate (shown below). The post received roughly 215 upvotes and 40 comments in a day.

Search Interest

External References