A BRAVE teenager who suffers from a rare brain tumour joined Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger as he stepped out in front of thousands of football fans to celebrate a charity fundraising victory.

Arnie Higgs, 14, was in awe as he set foot on the turf at Premiership side Arsenal to celebrate the club raising a record-breaking £532,816 for the Teenage Cancer Trust charity over the past season.

Arnie, of Seymour Close, Laindon, became involved with the charity after he was diagnosed with medulloblastoma last September.

Since getting the news, the De La Salle school pupil has endured a delicate operation, six weeks of chemotherapy, and is currently undergoing a year-long radiotherapy programme to beat the disease.

Mum Hilda Millar, 47, said: “Arnie is just fantastic with all his treatment, he doesn’t moan about anything and just gets on with it.

“I am so proud of him, and the day at Arsenal was just brilliant.

“There couldn’t be a better team for Arnie, he is such a fan.”

Also standing alongside Arnie on his big day was Teenage Cancer Trust patron and The Who frontman Roger Daltrey, who is also a big Arsenal supporter.

They watched their team play Atletico Madrid in the Emirates Cup from a box at the Emirates stadium in north London.

Arnie also got the chance to meet up with his goalkeeper hero Manuel Almunia, whom he first met in May when the player made a surprise birthday visit to the Trust’s teenage ward at University College Hospital, London, where the teen receives his treatment.

Arnie said: “I had a great day at Arsenal. It was great to catch up with Manuel again, because he is my hero and because I play in goal too. He is a real inspiration.”

The money raised through Arsenal’s fundraising campaign will enable the trust to create a unique unit for young cancer patients in a brand new day care cancer centre based at the hospital.

The centre will include a state-of-the-art education zone and a social space designed to make young patients feel as relaxed and comfortable as possible when receiving their treatment.

Building work on the centre will begin in 2010.