FICTIONAL GOOGLE SHEETS GRID
A1: Amount stored as text
B1: Converted number
A2: =TO_TEXT(12)
A3: =TO_TEXT(8)
A4: =TO_TEXT(5)
B2: =VALUE(A2)  (fill through B4)
B5: =SUM(B2:B4)
Expected B2:B4: 12, 8, 5 (numbers); B5: 25.