All lung cancer damages lungs by clotting them and not allowing you to take in a proper amount of air when you breath.this enables you in that you cant do athletic activity's â¦   Lung cancer affects the lungs. In the lungs there is a tumor.But sometimes that tumor can press againest the airways.moking also  damages the alveoli in the lungs, which are small air sacs that  help deliver oxygen into the bloodstream and assist in removing  carbon dioxide when you exhale.